Joey Loperfido

American baseball player (born 1999)

Baseball player

Joey Loperfido
Toronto Blue Jays – No. 9
Outfielder
Born: (1999-05-11) May 11, 1999 (age 25) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Bats: Left Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 30, 2024, for the Houston Astros
MLB statistics (through August 16, 2024)
Batting average	.208
Home runs	2
Runs batted in	17

Teams
Houston Astros (2024) Toronto Blue Jays (2024–present)

Mario Joseph Loperfido (born May 11, 1999) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2024 with the Houston Astros.

Career

Amateur

Loperfido attended Haddonfield Memorial High School in Haddonfield, New Jersey, and played college baseball at Duke University. In 2019, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League.^[1]

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros selected Loperfido in the seventh round of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft.^[2] He made his professional debut in 2021 with the Single–A Fayetteville Woodpeckers and spent 2022 with Fayetteville and High–A Asheville Tourists.^[3] He started 2023 with Asheville, and was promoted to the Double–A Corpus Christi Hooks after eight games.^[4] Loperfido began the 2024 season with the Triple–A Sugar Land Space Cowboys. In 25 games, he hit .287/.393/.713 with 13 home runs, 27 RBI, and five stolen bases.

On April 30, 2024, Loperfido was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time.^[5] In his debut, he hit a two RBI single against Cleveland Guardians pitcher Carlos Carrasco. He hit his first career home run on May 16, against the Oakland Athletics.^[6] On May 27, Loperfido was demoted to Sugar Land to make room on the roster for José Abreu. On June 14, Abreu was released from the team. As result, a week later, Loperfido returned to the Major League team.^[7] In 38 total games for Houston, he slashed .236/.299/.359 with two home runs, 16 RBI, and two stolen bases.

Toronto Blue Jays

On July 29, 2024, Loperfido, Jake Bloss, and Will Wagner were traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.^[8]

References

^ "#18 Joey Loperfido". pointstreak.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
^ Minnick, Kevin (July 13, 2021). "Loperfido ready for next step after being taken in 7th round of 2021 MLB Draft". NJ.com. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
^ Gibson, Todd (June 8, 2022). "Former Duke star finding his way with Fayetteville Woodpeckers". CBS17.com. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
^ McTaggart, Brian (April 23, 2023). "Loperfido delivered good news on a platter". MLB.com. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
^ McDonald, Darragh (April 30, 2024). "Astros Designate Joel Kuhnel For Assignment". MLB Trade Rumors. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
^ "Houston Astros' Joey Loperfido hits first career home run". Archived from the original on June 30, 2024. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
^ Cole, Eric (April 30, 2024). "Astros Drop Jose Abreu, Loperfido promoted".{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ McTaggart, Brian. "Astros deal for Kikuchi, send 3 players to Jays". MLB.com.